Penguins and Polarbears
by Black-Winged Magician
Summary: Sequel to "Momentum" and "Criminal" in one sentence form for the 1sentence challenge on LJ. Edo/OC/Ryou.


**Author's Note**: _Written for the 1sentence challenge on LiveJournal, Alpha themes set. _

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**#01 – Comfort **

Edo's surprised when she bullets into him and starts sobbing on his chest; he's even more surprised when he reflexively wraps his arms around her shoulders, whispering, "It's ok" over and over again.

**#02 – Kiss **

She smacks her lips on the palm of her hand and then firmly presses it on his cheek.

**#03 – Soft **

Although his trench coat looks like it's been stiffened with starch and epoxy adhesive, when she runs her fingers over the shiny black leather, she realizes it's just the opposite.

**#04 – Pain **

At the conclusion of his nightly 'training' (and heavens know where Manjyome is), his hand is coated in sticky crimson rivers, and all she can do is snatch the blood-soiled deck he's clutching and wipe each D-hero clean with a handkerchief, muttering under her breath about 'his father's heirloom' and 'one of a kind novelties', ignoring the resentful glint in his eye as he glares at her, shaking in silent rage that she would pay more attention to his_ cards_ than him _himself_, before storming away, too angry to notice the way she was clenching her fist in the handkerchief—as if trying to convince herself she didn't care about his bloody hand.

**#05 – Potatoes **

It's on a hot summer day that the two are lounging on the same bench under the shade of the trees when Edo says suddenly murmurs, "You know…I never hated you" out of the blue and looks to Toukouseki for a reaction, except Toukouseki is too busy mashing the buttons of her video game (like the way you mash potatoes for a Thanksgiving dinner) and secretly pretending that the zombie nurse she's shooting with an automatic rifle gun is in fact, Edo's head.

**#06 – Rain **

She darkly watches Edo from behind the rain-splattered window as he stands under the drizzles with his head tilted upwards as if he wanted each drop of water to penetrate his skull and wash away some terrible and invisible memory inside his brain.

**#07 - Chocolate **

Toukouseki initially rejects the _customary_ (Edo claims otherwise) Valentine Day's gesture with stupid excuses about how chocolate is going to make her fat, but ultimately surrenders to his persuasiveness and accepts the claret-stained box from him "only because the bow is pretty".

**#08 - Happiness **

"…you are the closest thing to happiness this plane of existence has had for me in _three whole fucking_ years so don't you _dare_ die over there—I'll—I'll kill Yuuki-kun if you don't come back—I'll kill Andersen-kun for not returning from the desert in the first place—and—and I'll kill Marufuji-kun for not protecting you!"

**#09 - Telephone **

She's petty enough to ring him up at three in the morning and murmur into the speaker, "The cake was a lie-aisu" before leaving him with a dead tone.

**#10 - Ears **

To her ears, his voice sounds like a mixture of dead tree branches rustling in the wind and crying children and refugees sporting stumps instead of arms and the whispers of bony cadavers with wide open ghost-like eyes resulting from starvation, and the screams when sharp bayonets are skewered through pregnant mothers' wombs and a philharmonic orchestra playing in a concert venue and a lone bugle call blown on the deserted battlefield all at the same time.

**#11 - Name **

He hears loud screams of "...Toukouseki -da! _Toukouseki -da_!" and knows that Kanda has screwed up her suffix for the umpteenth time that day.

**#12 - Sensual **

Toukouseki never came across as the graceful type to Edo, but he's proven wrong when every eye in the room is glued on the two of them sweeping sensually across the ballroom floor, dancing to her own wild, customized waltz which is a tango mixed with something Edo _swears _looks like break-dancing in midair, and after she finishes her third airborne spin, she leans towards him with a devilish grin, muttering, "You see, those split kicks had they uses after all."

**#13 - Death **

She is thousands of worlds away when Sealed Exodia's final attack reduces him into thousands of particles of light.

**#14 - Sex **

They get close to it many, many times (after all, testosterone coursed through his teenage body, plus her miniskirt _was_ rather short), but in the end, they both decided premarital sex was just plain ridiculous for a boy and girl of 16 and 17, respectively (...not that they would ever get married).

**#15 - Touch **

She could be mean, she could be cruel; she could leave people gawking after her like they've never heard a girl talk before—but she reasonable and acknowledged her mistakes with downcast eyes and a pout…and if not, Edo was there to keep her in check through a single touch on the shoulder and a look in his eyes that whispered '_no_'.

**#16 - Weakness **

Happiness and love are only reserved for _pretty girls_, and Toukouseki sourly thinks that's rather unfair.

**#17 - Tears **

Kanda shoves him into the tree, fumbling with clumsy fingers to get a solid grip on his suit before growling into his face, "...you make her cry again and I _swear_ I'll kill you."

**#18 - Speed **

Every night, she watches on the sidelines as Edo explores more creative outlets to stabilize his sanity, cutting line after line in some feeble, desperate attempt to murk out the pain of reality; but this one night when he raises his glass to gulp down the wine while his free hand inches towards the amphetamines, she slams it on the table with a terse: "Phoenix-kun, drugs and wine ain't a pretty cocktail-aisu", in which he rolls his eyes and bites back, "Everyone's a bartender."

**#19 - Wind **

She poses the question: "If you could, would you wind back time?" and Edo immediately nods while Ryou shakes his head.

**#20 - Freedom **

Whenever Edo's at Duel Academia and has an hour of freedom from dueling or the press, she drags him away to dance or knit or fold origami and it's this unfathomable determination, her almost childish attitude towards life, and her inane, unpredictable quirks that make Edo love her so much.

**#21 - Life **

"...maybe you shouldn't grieve over the fact he's dead and be grateful that you're just alive-aisu," she tries to console him, but immediately falls silent to his razor-edge glare.

**#22 - Jealousy **

Toukouseki likes Saiou (he's chivalrous and mature and genuinely rueful of his contributions to the Hikari no Kessha) and Toukouseki hates Edo (he's smug and irritating and refuses to take her seriously) but for some reason, Toukouseki likes it when Edo's around her (bitching and snarking and bickering about everything from what day it is to whether or not he should sell D-hero Dogmaguy on an internet bidding site to raise money to buy her birthday gift) and hates it when Edo is around Saiou (consoling him with those hurt, child-like eyes that he will never use on her) —and she can't. explain. why.

**#23 - Hands **

Her hands sport blisters, bleeding knuckles, and palms etched with crescent-shaped marks from clenching her fists too hard in brawls so that her fingernails dug into the skin, while his are impeccably clean, well-manicured, and excused of even the tiniest paper cut—but nevertheless, their hands fit perfectly together like jigsaw puzzles: whole and complete and entirely so beautiful.

**#24 - Taste **

He's like a baked Alaska; warm on the outside and cold on the inside, all the result of being baked in an extremely hot oven for a very short period of time.

**#25 - Devotion **

She hates him _she hates him shehateshim_ when he mutters from a bleeding jaw, "...because you're a girl, you'll always have someone who feels they need to protect you," and stubbornly takes the bone-shattering blows that were initially meant for her.

**#26 - Forever **

"Johan...no...Yubel... let me tell you something" —Ryou's hand automatically moves over his wretched heart— "As long as I feeling this shining moment, the darkness of death will not emerge...this moment will last for all eternity!"

**#27 - Blood **

She examines D-hero Bloo-D with a frown and wonders how many lives were taken by this demon before Edo finally got around to purifying the piece of shit.

**#28 - Sickness **

Toukouseki always taunts him that when he gets sick, she'll be there to spoon-feed him chicken soup like they do on television with the French maid outfit and all that jazz, but when that day does happens in actuality,_ she's_ the one who has caught bronchitis and he's standing over her bed with a spoon and a quirked eyebrow, completely lace-free.

**#29 - Melody **

"_Hey, oh, hey…I've got this mega hot celebrity I'm head over heels for…but I'm a violent chick with a limited vocabulary! …and the social skills that shame my whole family! …I just wanna screw with his perfect head! …to remind him to wear ribbed condoms in bed—_h-hi, Tou-tan! Uh, do y-you like the song Ran and I c-came up with?"

**#30 - Star **

He is a star in the Pro-League circuit, and she is the little girl on the ground, gazing at the midnight sky and wondering just how far up that star is from where she's standing; and one day, she wished they could walk side by side as equals, rather than her trailing in miles behind him.

**#31 - Home **

"...Marufuji-kun didn't return home? _Ryou didn't return home_? Why? Why is he dead and _you're_ alive?! Why are _you_ back and he isn't? Why are you so selfish? Tell me!_ WHY_?" and she slaps Edo in the face, once, twice, in far too much pain to open her eyes and look at Edo, because if she had, she will have seen that he is as much of an emotional disaster as she is over Hell Kaiser's death.

**#32 - Confusion **

"It's not that I hate you," she admits weeks after that summer day, weeks after she has beaten her proxy-Edo zombie massacre video game three times over, "You're really nice, polite—but I have a hard time understanding why people like my company-aisu."

**#33 - Fear **

Ice cold fear courses through him as his wrists are cuffed to the bedpost and strong hands ghost over his bare stomach as the soft, silky murmur of Ryou's voice hisses into his ear: "I've got a _special_ surprise for you, Phoenix."

**#34 - Lightning/Thunder **

There are dark rain clouds and thunder the night he doesn't come home; it's the anniversary of his father's death.

**#35 - Bonds **

"You're the only person I can connect with, can tell secrets too," he says to her one day, wholly expecting her to feel a new level of self-importance, but she just smiles tightlipped and awkwardly and murmurs, "…because I'm a girl, right?"

**#36 - Market **

What originally was supposed to a competition of who was more dominant than the other (with an _extremely _faceplant Ryou bribed to be the judge via promises of bondage and electro-shock collars) turns out to be a relaxing evening picnic consisting of dango and very cheap instant noodles purchased from the supermarket a week before.

**#37 - Technology **

While watching at her play her zombie video game, he notices that the graphics really are _that_ graphic, the blood really _does_ look like blood, and that the monster she's razing down with a scalpel really _does_ resemble him in a freakish way.

**#38 - Gift **

After the extravagant dinner party, cajoling of guests, wine, entertainment, blowing out the seventeen candles stuck in the $300 chocolate cake, more cajoling of guests; (she is there for the entire thing, all dressed up in a pretty silver-colored gown with her hair pinned up, pretending she's just another female guest infatuated with Edo and making cheerful small-talk with some of the older Pro duelists while meticulously avoiding all interaction with Edo who's busy laughing with a different circle of women every twenty minutes) and every last guest is gone—he takes his limo back to his apartment (she takes a taxi; after all, they can't be seen riding home together lest rumors pique the following day)—and he's finally, _finally_ alone, Toukouseki materializes from behind the couch and hands him the battered hand-held video game she's been playing nonstop for months now and says, "Happy Birthday, Edo."

**#39 - Smile **

"Kanda-kun tells me I should smile more-aisu." "Why don't you listen to him?" "...because you're standing next to me."

**#40 - Innocence **

As Toukouseki listens to Edo talk about the events that took place in the alternate dimension regarding the East School representative and his ill-fated lover, she suddenly realizes just how innocent the boy is in so many aspects of life—including love.

**#41 - Completion **

Forty cards, one stacked on top of the other, symbolizes the completion of her transformation when she slides her new deck into her card holder.

**#42 - Clouds **

One day their paths will part like drifting clouds, although Toukouseki doesn't dwell too much on their goodbyes as they have only started their hellos...not to mention Amon Garam was the one with the weather obsession and she was certainly no Echo.

**#43 - Sky **

He realizes deep down inside, behind the various masks, that she's actually a good person with a good heart—and when she's not acting bitter or volatile or pigheaded or overall plain obnoxious, Ryou thinks that maybe, just _maybe _he could stand her presence...because after all, birds of the same feather flock together in the sky.

**#44 - Heaven **

Kanda beats Edo at Chinese poker for the _fifth_ time in the row, and Toukouseki laughs and thinks she's in heaven.

**#45 - Hell **

"Um, yeah…sorry about the whole 'beating you up' jig…and sort of…raping you…yes, um, I was possessed, and brainwashed. ..._yeah,_" Gin deadpans, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably and staring at the sky before continuing, "So, uh, now that my old gang kicked me out...can I be part of your posse?" in which Kanda beams, Ran huffs, and Toukouseki just _gawks _at him, wondering what kind of hell she's going to be put through with yet another tagalong.

**#46 - Sun **

"This is you," she tells Edo.

**#47 - Moon **

"And this is you," she tells Ryou.

**#48 - Waves **

Each morning, the pair of men stands on his boat with coffee mugs in their hands and silently watches the waves roll along.

**#49 - Hair **

When she activates Necroface's special ability, the miniature squall that kicks up transforms her hair from two, neatly bunched up pigtails into haphazard whips as wild and lethal as her monster's tentacles.

**#50 - Supernova **

When the day finally comes that Toukouseki blurts out "_IkindasortathinkIloveyou_", Edo recognizes it's the end of the world as they knew it and the sun is going to implode any minute now.


End file.
